Assessments are designed to measure knowledge, skills, and abilities. Constructs are the knowledge, skills or abilities being measured by an assessment. By their nature, however, most assessments include features that are not relevant to the construct being assessed. Often the methods and materials used in assessments require additional skills and understanding. These are considered to be construct irrelevant. Construct-irrelevant features of assessments may pose barriers for some students, preventing an accurate measurement of the construct.

Construct-Irrelevant Factors
Assessment Example	Construct-Irrelevant Factors
Math assessment that includes word problems to assess students’ understanding of math concepts.	The ability to read fluently is construct irrelevant. Even though it is an important skill, it is not part of the construct being measured. Learners who have difficulty with reading may miss certain items even though they may have a good grasp of the underlying math concepts.
Essay exam in a Biology class that is both timed and closed book.	Construct-irrelevant factors include motor coordination (handwriting or typing skills), short-term and working memory, organization and time management, attention, and the ability to work under pressure. The additional measurement of these many factors can prevent gaining an accurate picture of a student’s Biology content knowledge.

Minimizing construct-irrelevant factors does not lessen the rigor of an assessment but instead gives a more accurate picture of what learners are actually learning in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified in the course goals. Having an accurate picture of student learning is particularly important for formative assessments, where results can be used to revise instruction as a course progresses. Minimizing construct-irrelevant factors helps to focus in on where students are actually struggling with content, skills, or abilities that the assessment is meant to measure.

It is important to consider construct relevance when creating assessments. For example:

Supports can be provided to reduce the measurement of construct-irrelevant factors, such as providing text-to-speech so that reading ability is not being measured in an assessment of content knowledge in mathematics.
Students can be provided with options for how they demonstrate what they know, such as presenting a project either through an open-book essay or an oral presentation.
When construct irrelevance cannot be avoided, such as when administering a standardized test that has not been designed with attention to construct relevance, it is important that the instructor is aware of learners for whom there may be barriers and how it would impact their performance. The demands and benefits of any one form of assessment will differ depending upon who is taking it.

By providing supports and options around how to demonstrate knowledge, and by developing awareness of what barriers different forms of assessment create for different students, faculty can better distribute the demands and benefits of any one form of assessment among all learners.

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Watch: Cast researcher Tracey Hall discusses Construct Relevance